


Monica

by roseandheather



Series: Unexpectedly (Then Somebody Bends) [1]
Category: Honor Harrington Series - David Weber
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-29
Updated: 2014-03-29
Packaged: 2018-01-17 10:12:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 366
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1383712
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/roseandheather/pseuds/roseandheather
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>With unexpected tragedy comes unexpected hope - and the beginning of a partnership for the ages. Estelle Matsuko sees Augustus Khumalo in a very different light in the wake of the Battle of Monica.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Monica

“It’s going to be too late to make very much difference to Terekhov, either way, Loretta.”

His voice was quiet, but that deep baritone nevertheless resounded through Estelle Matsuko like a thunderclap. _He’s going,_ she thought dazedly. _He’s actually going, and he didn’t even hesitate. It’ll probably be too late, and he knows it, but he’s going anyway because it just might not be, and he knows that, too. And he’s backing Terekhov, damn the consequences. My God, I never thought he had it in him._

_I have never been more wrong about anything in my life._

“Maybe so, Admiral,” his chief of staff noted just as quietly, echoing Matsuko’s own thoughts, “but maybe not, too.”

He cleared his throat, nodded gruffly in Shoupe’s direction, and turned to the still stunned Provisional Governor. “With your permission, my lady,” he said, and stood.

She stood as well, walking to him and reaching out to take his hand in both of hers. “You have it, of course.” If he was afraid, he wasn’t showing it, but Estelle Matsuko knew exactly what he faced, and a part of her - a part of her that had only just begun to see the truth of Augustus Khumalo - was very much afraid for him. “But Augustus,” she continued thinly, and his eyes flew open in shock as she used his given name for the first time, “please - please come back safe.”

He smiled then - just a shadow of a smile, but it was enough. “I’ll do my best, my lady,” he rumbled, and his free hand came up to cover hers. A curious warmth flooded through her as the heat of his palm enveloped her hands, and she blinked a little when she noticed that he could enfold both of her hands in one of his without effort.

She studied him for a moment longer, still rattled by the feeling that for all these long months she’d been missing something, something terribly important - but that didn’t matter now, did it?

Or perhaps it mattered now more than it ever had before.

“Do what you must,” she said at last, and gently withdrew her hands from his. “Godspeed, Admiral Khumalo - and God bless.”


End file.
